Our Pacific Offices

National Wildlife Federation's Pacific offices collaborate directly with state agencies, conservation groups, educators and our state affiliates in Washington, Oregon, and Hawaii to protect and restore wildlife, get kids and families outside and into nature, and win on key conservation campaigns. Current projects include:

GARDEN FOR WILDLIFE

Our Certified Wildlife Habitatprogram engages people to make it a priority to provide habitat for wildlife by providing the basic elements that all wildlife need.

The Northwest boasts over 12,000 Backyard Habitats, nearly 250 Certified Schoolyard Habitats and the most certified Community Wildlife Habitats in the nation!

Creating a wildlife habitat is a great project for families to do at home or for their apartment complex. It's a great project for troop or volunteer groups. Crete wildlife habitat at school or partner with a local business! Every native plant makes a difference to wildlife!

COMMUNITIES TAKE ACTION

If you love gardening and connecting with people in your community, the National Wildlife Federation can help you certify your community as a Certified Community Wildlife Habitat. A Community Wildlife Habitat is a community that provides habitat for wildlife throughout the community - in backyards, on school grounds, and in public areas such as parks, places of worship and businesses. Volunteers create a local team and work on habitat related outreach and projects with NWF staff. Washington State, for example, has over 40 actively engaged communities from Anacortes to Gig Harbor.

CONNECTING FAMILIES WITH NATURE

Kids today spend twice as much time indoors as their parents did, missing out on the simple pleasures and lasting metal and physical health benefits of daily outdoor time.

Spending time outdoors can improve a child’s physical, mental and emotional well-being. The benefits of outdoor play are real: healthier kids with a life-long appreciation for wildlife and the natural world.

We have a variety of programs and tools to engage your family with nature. From finding local parks with Nature Find, to reporting what wildlife you see with Wildlife Watch, to activities to play outside, and our annual events like National Wildlife Week and Great American Campout!

GREEN YOUR SCHOOL WITH ECO-SCHOOLS USA

The ECO-SCHOOLS USA program provides a framework to green your school with amazing resources and curriculum. In Oregon for example, we collaborate with Oregon Green Schools and have nearly 300 schools participating in this program.

The Eco-Schools USA program is designed in a way that:

Improves academic performance, especially in science and math

Leads to financial savings for schools

Decreases the school’s carbon footprint through practical solutions that reduce energy and water consumption

HALTING NORTHWEST COAL PORTS

Coal companies are targeting the Pacific Northwest as the gateway for export terminals that would send staggering quantities of US coal to China.

Railways, ports and mines all interfere with wildlife and wildlife habitat. If coal exports in the Pacific Northwest continue to expand, our wildlife will be increasingly more threatened. From orca whales to elk, there is a wide range of wildlife that falls in the crosshairs of coal exports.

Fight new coal mining in the Powder River Basin and prevent the permitting of new port projects on the West coast that would be needed to support increased coal exports;

Engage with Tribal communities in the Pacific Northwest to halt or minimize the threats posed by the expansion of coal exports;

Collaborate with sportsmen and local organizations to build a regionally powerful and nationally relevant network to combat the threat of expanded coal mining and exports on wildlife and our environment.

Hawaiian monk seals are one of the world's most endangered marine mammals and the only tropical seal to inhabit US waters. Worse, misinformation and scapegoating of the seal as the reason for dwindling fish stocks has lead to several international killings of these endangered mammals. With less than 1,100 of them left, National Wildlife Federation has been working in partnership with our Hawai‘i state affiliate, the Conservation Council for Hawai‘i to ensure that the species is not lost to extinction. We are doing this by:

Bringing public pressure upon federal agencies and elected officials to fully fund the Fish and Wildlife Service’s Monk Seal Recovery Program

Doing direct public outreach to schools, families and at community events to expand the public’s understanding of the seal, it’s place in Hawaiian cultural history and the role it plays in local marine ecology

Launching our Fishing with Aloha campaign which targets outreach and education to fishing and ocean using communities throughout the islands with information on the seals biology and feeding habits and how best to respond to unintended human-seal interactions.

On Tuesday, August 18th, the National Marine Fisheries Service issued a final rule protecting almost 7,000 square miles of additional critical habitat for Hawaiian monk seals and while there is still work to be done to ensure survival of this species, this is a huge step towards that goal. (learn more here)

Join us in ensuring the Hawaiian monk seal population recovers. Learn more here: Hawaiian Monk Seals

AMERICA'S LANDS FOR AMERICA'S PEOPLE

We are thrilled to announce, after a five-year vacancy in WA State, that we have an official affiliation with Conservation Northwest. Conservation Northwest, a powerhouse of an organization is widely respected throughout the state of Washington and is on the leading edge of the fight to keep America's public lands in public hands. Read about their current work on this issue here.

ENSURING PEBBLE MINE IS HALTED ONCE AND FOR ALL

For thousands of years, Bristol Bay has been untouched by development, providing optimal conditions for returning salmon. Yet foreign mining companies have plans for large-scale mineral development, such as the Pebble gold and copper mine in the headwaters of the bay's best wild salmon rivers, could change this place forever. If eventually built, Pebble Mine will:

Be the largest open pit mine in North America, up to two miles wide.

Require massive earthen dams to contain lakes of toxic mine waste that could leak into the surface and groundwater.

Be located in an unstable seismic zone prone to frequent earthquakes.

Require a 100 mile road into wilderness, and a major new fossil fuel power plant - generating enough power to supply the city of Anchorage.

Launched and lead by our Alaska state affiliate, the Renewable Resources Foundation, the voters of Alaska last year passed the Bristol Bay Forever Initiative, ensuring that mines such as Pebble mine will not be allowed to go forward in Bristol Bay unless they provide no negative impact on the region and receive majority approval from the state legislature. While this is a huge success, it is likely to still be battled in future court cases. NWF continues to work in partnership with RRF to make sure that Pebble mine and mines like it are never built in the pristine watershed of Bristol Bay.